So just how big is this new lift?

A mystery has surfaced with respect to the size of the lift on the up platform. A spokesperson from Network Rail informed Don Foster MP that the new one is 1100 x 1800 mm. Well, that's not what they have got planning permission for. The plans - even those slipped through at the last moment to invalidate any objections that might have been considered pertinent - not only show the drawings marked clearly 1100 x 1500, it's even there in writing. So I thought I'd better let my contact in the ORR know that Network Rail has got it wrong. Oh no, says he, the new lift is definitely 1100 x 1800. So I've sent him the plans. As this all happened last night, which was a Friday, I haven't heard back, but this is all very odd.

So what is happening? Well, it could just be an error. The lift shaft is 1880 x 2000, which as you can see is significantly larger than the lift itself, to allow for all the bits and bobs that lifts have on the outside. So perhaps someone has just misread it.

But it does leave the more suspicious of us wondering if something else is going on here. To accommodate the larger lift, the shaft size would also need to be increased by at least 30 cms - that's about 1 foot in £sd. Now Varian Tye, the Heritage team officer, made it clear in his report that he was unhappy at the amount of demolition, but had been persuaded to allow it through. Reading the English Heritage letter carefully, it is clear they had a similar view. They stated that if there were any more significant changes, they wanted to know, and might demand that the plan went to the Secretary of State - all of which would introduce delays and uncertainties.

The larger lift would have meant a doorway within the listed historic material being changed, so both Varian and EH were very likely to dig their toes in. What's more, the proprietors of the cafe have already lost some space, and the larger lift would have meant a further loss of storage space. I suspect they would have objected too.

So was the idea to build the smaller lift and then say "Oops we made it too small but that's all we had permission for"? Or was it the reverse? Were they going to build a larger lift and then say "Oops we made it too large - but then you all wanted a larger lift so what's the problem?"

Well, my meeting with the MD of FGW isn't far away, so I hope to get to the bottom of it all. I also hope to find out just who owns what around the station and who is calling the shots. One really has to wonder if anyone is in overall charge of this project. I have found out, for example, that Network Rail was unaware of some of the changes proposed by FGW and Multi at the front of the station and is minded to object. I also found out from B&NES some other facts of which the ORR were unaware. Weird as it sounds, I now seem to be acting as a sorting office for information between the various partners, since, one way and another, most of what's going on seems to end up on my desk. And it doesn't seem to be ending up with such regularity on theirs.

As I remarked to my contacts at the DfT and the ORR, this whole project is looking more and more like an out-of-control octopus, in which none of the arms knows what the other arms are doing. Let's hope I can untangle some of the knots that the octopus seems to be tying itself up into.